Aftermath, Melbourne Festival, Oct 11, 2011 *****

 Review: Aftermath *****
The New York Theatre Workshop Production
Malthouse Theatre, Tues Oct 11 until Friday Oct 14, 2011
Star rating: *****

• Reviewed by: Kate Herbert
• From: Herald Sun
• October 12, 2011 11:16AM  
 

Reviewed on Oct 11, 2011

 AFTERMATH, by Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen, is delicate, beautiful, painful theatre based on revealing interviews with Iraqi refugees who fled to Jordan after 2003.

They touch our hearts with their resilience, grief and simple joys. Their gentler, happier stories give way to personal tales of grief and the loss of loved ones, oppression by Saddam, abuse by Iraqi militia and police, and distrust of - and further abuse by - invading US troops.

The performances are subtle and rich, the dramatic structure and characterisations unembellished. Simple staging heightens the intensity.

Characters sit in a row of mismatched chairs across the front of the stage, chatting to us as if through an interpreter and - in the Arabic tradition - they welcome us into their homes for tea and food.

We meet eight characters: the generous pharmacist from Fallugia; the arrogant, conceited dermatologist; the scarred and now single Christian woman; a simple married couple; a sad, angry Imam who was tortured in Abu Graib; and a theatre director and his wife, a designer.

The war stories we heard in news media are now up close and personal. Aftermath leaves us reeling but enlivened by its bare humanity and honesty and grateful that our lives are not lived in a war zone.

AFTERMATH

The New York Theatre Workshop Production
Malthouse Theatre, Tues Oct 11 until Friday Oct 14, 2011
Star rating: *****